Article below. It's in a spoiler to avoid a 'wall-o-text':It seems odd to many that Blizzard’s still unannounced, still unnamed, barely confirmed Project Titan is still lurking in the shadows as a mystery title for the company. At a certain point, we expect to hear some new information about a title rumored to exist for years, but Blizzard hardly ever comments on Titan when asked.

They did have to respond to a series of recent rumors, however. According to Gamesbeat, 70 of the 100 staff current working on Titan were removed and assigned to other projects as the game is said to haven been “restarted.” That move would mean the game itself would be delayed until probably 2016.

It wasn’t good news, as the last game Blizzard “restarted” was Starcraft: Ghost, a title which never ended up seeing the light of day. As Titan is supposed to be Activision Blizzard ‘s Next Big Thing, this is a bigger deal. ZAM managed to wrestle an official comment out of Blizzard regarding these rumors:

“We’ve always had a highly iterative development process, and the unannounced MMO is no exception. We’ve come to a point where we need to make some large design and technology changes to the game. We’re using this opportunity to shift some of our resources to assist with other projects while the core team adapts our technology and tools to accommodate these new changes. Note that we haven’t announced any dates for the MMO.”

This essentially confirms the Gamesbeat rumor about the massive staff shift, and it does seem like the project is being “restarted” based on what they’re saying about the technology and design. And of course Blizzard would never commit itself to a date officially.

So, what’s going on? As Titan is an MMO, it was/is likely being developed as replacement for the aging World of Warcraft which is still a cash cow for Activision, but also losing subscribers by the millions. It’s possible they were modeling the game after WoW too much, and after seeing similar MMOs fail, they didn’t want the same thing to happen to the game’s spiritual sequel.

Though next to nothing is known about Titan, it’s hard to imagine that Blizzard will debut it as a subscription-based MMO the way WoW operates. Even if it’s still within the Blizzard family, the only reason people are still paying for WoW is that they’ve done so for so long, they’ve forgotten about it. Nearly all other MMOs who have tried to do a subscription model have gone free to play, save a few of the old bastions of the genre (EVE Online). With a new IP, it’s hard to imagine a monthly fee would work for Titan, nor would copying the same format of WoW. Players are looking for their games to evolve.

Of course with a tight lid on official information, we can only guess at what’s going on, but Titan is big deal for a company known for the same three series for the last 15 years, and it seems it’s having some growing pains.

“We’ve always had a highly iterative development process, and the unannounced MMO is no exception. We’ve come to a point where we need to make some large design and technology changes to the game. We’re using this opportunity to shift some of our resources to assist with other projects while the core team adapts our technology and tools to accommodate these new changes. Note that we haven’t announced any dates for the MMO.”

Given the changes in the MMO landscape the last few years it's not overly surprising. The prospects and exceptions for an MMO are quite different than back when they started the project. You think of something like SWTOR that spent, what, nearly 6 years in development, and came out with combat and character progression that felt 3 years too old. Then of course spent several months reworking everything for F2P.

I can't imagine Blizzard would want to launch something in a similar fashion. So to speculate, maybe it's just getting a bit of a retooling. Less staff indicative of them thinking there's lees potential money in an MMO these days in a very competitive F2P/micro-transaction environment? Scaling down of sorts? There's considerations if you think you'll be making a F2P game now versus a subscription game.

I don't think Blizzard needs to go F2P on Titan. Blizzard has a track record of putting out a quality product and have a loyal customer base that will pay a monthly subscription fee.

That's certainly true about WoW at least. They also have nearly 2 decades of followers (since the original Warcraft) invested in that series, it's been wildly successful and there's a large number of people who would simply buy another Warcraft product because of that.

I guess just to throw out the example, I wouldn't pay for a subscription for WoW anymore (when I do) if I hadn't already put time and effort into the game. A completely new title won't have that fan base. It will have the Blizzard logo, which is sure to attract some attention and a good number of sales. But 3-6 months in, how many of those people will want to continue paying for a subscription? If any number of current MMOs are any indication it's only a matter of time before the players chase free content in other games.

Perhaps there's room for a successful subscription MMO still, if anyone could pull that off it'd be Blizzard. A premium MMO for people who are willing to pay for it in a sense. But to go that route it will have to be exceptional which is a high bar to set, if simply following WoW's success wasn't challenging enough already.

F2P is no longer something the game companies are forced to do. They do it because it's more profitable than pure subscription based income. Slap "F2P" on the box and it justifies selling core gameplay features for real dollars in the eStore. And every time the developers come up with something new and shiny, dollar signs start flashing at the parent company.

Subscribers get a monthly amount of eStore currency which they immediately spend on loot packs so they can get rich. Then game company releases a shiny and makes you buy it via the eStore. Subscribers just spent their free junk, so now they're spending even more on the new shiny.

I mean, it's ******* money-making poetry.

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Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.

I love this *****. They surely are behind some of the rumors, because rumors are the best form of advertisement. But in order to keep them going, they cannot confirm anything, and so we have the double, triple, and quadruple talk.

Quote:

and the unannounced MMO is no exception

Imagine, they now refer to it as "the unannounced MMO." I love it.

I know that you know that I know that you know that there's an MMO in the works but, and even though I cannot confirm this, you know that I know that you know that there's been some changes in the MMO we are not announcing and, now don't quote me on this, because you know that I know that you know that this will slow down our unannounced progress, so make sure you don't quote me when I say that I can definitely and unequivocally intimate that it is possible that there is perhaps a chance that we may have an MMO we are working on that we are not ready to announce yet . . . . you know what I mean?

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"the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." Hermann Goering, April 1946.

The way I took it to mean is they want to update the core engine of the game becuase its too old or doesnt do what they want to do. During this time only your programmers would really be working, everyone else would have to be shipped off to other areas to keep them with work. Maybe the Story dept could keep writing. IDK.

Also in doing this they are expediting stuff like Hearthstone, WoW and SC2, with more people to build and put out content, possibly get a buffer on time so you can release early. If this was EA they would have laid off everyone first.

Or they put everyone on for the next WoW expansion coming out in November (Calling it now) because their new faster patch cycle would put the new Expansion around that time

Or they put everyone on for the next WoW expansion coming out in November (Calling it now) because their new faster patch cycle would put the new Expansion around that time

I really wish they didn't have to RUSH RUSH RUSH RUSH because players want to gobble everything up as fast as they possibly can.

Some of us people who like to take it slower end up getting left in the dust. I mean seriously, the expansion JUST STARTED at the end of September and now it is May and people are already talking about the "Next Expansion"?

A part of me wonders why the **** I'm even worrying about trying to gear up for the LFRs or anything when I can just wait a few months and I can just level all of my characters to 95 when the NEXT expansion comes out.

Oi.

All because of a small slice of the playerbase has to greedily wolf down the content as fast as they possibly can. And God Forbid they should clear everything and something NOT be on PTR to keep their ADHD-addled brains active...

Yes, I get it, Cataclysm was lack-luster in Endgame. Everybody knows that. But MoP has PLENTY of content, we shouldn't need to be shoving patches out the door ASAP. Jeebus, give the slower/more casual players a chance to catch up, please.

I remember when expansions would last two years. Now what, we're down to one year for an expansion? Pandaria is too awesome a continent/area to be in and out in a year. They put so much work into Pandaria and it is going to get less time to shine than Wrath or even Cataclysm did?

Not really a few people are affected by the slower patches Ive unsubbed 2 times this expansion already (for like a month each time) because I ran out of Non raid content. A lot of people did, and raid content was actually the least. We only get raid content every other patch versus every patch before. As for the rest no clue, I dont have the stats Im sure they are going to find the right stride soon. Well probably see a 5.5 and 5.6 to be honest, with WoW expansion early next year, maybe.

Bliz is new to the fast content, they are trying to find that happy medium between hardcore/casual. They honestly destroyed casual with the daily thing so they fixed that first.

Or they put everyone on for the next WoW expansion coming out in November (Calling it now) because their new faster patch cycle would put the new Expansion around that time

I really wish they didn't have to RUSH RUSH RUSH RUSH because players want to gobble everything up as fast as they possibly can.

Pretty much this. I would not describe me as a casual player but I have difficulties completing content before the next patch comes around. Granted I try to do everthing ingame (PvP less than the other stuff) but I don't think I'm the only one playing this way.

BeanX the Irrelevant wrote:

Not really a few people are affected by the slower patches Ive unsubbed 2 times this expansion already (for like a month each time) because I ran out of Non raid content. A lot of people did, and raid content was actually the least. We only get raid content every other patch versus every patch before.

True but I would argue that since the Throne of Thunder and the t14 raids have much more (and Imo more interesting) bosses than Firelands or Dragon Soul it is still a huge improvement for pure raiders.

Or they put everyone on for the next WoW expansion coming out in November (Calling it now) because their new faster patch cycle would put the new Expansion around that time

I really wish they didn't have to RUSH RUSH RUSH RUSH because players want to gobble everything up as fast as they possibly can.

Some of us people who like to take it slower end up getting left in the dust. I mean seriously, the expansion JUST STARTED at the end of September and now it is May and people are already talking about the "Next Expansion"?

...

I remember when expansions would last two years. Now what, we're down to one year for an expansion? Pandaria is too awesome a continent/area to be in and out in a year. They put so much work into Pandaria and it is going to get less time to shine than Wrath or even Cataclysm did?

I think WoW is like crack or heroin, in a sense. Start out with a hit that gives a massive high that lasts a long time. Next thing you know, it takes multiple hits to get the high and it doesn't last long.

Quicker expansion release is Blizzard chasing the high for the players. If they don't release content at a quicker and quicker pace, then more people will unsub to chase another high, er, game.

P.s. Disclaimer. I do not and have not taken the drugs referenced above...I am merely referring to what I understand of their long-term effects on users.

Part of the content was the actually leveling experience. Running around zones and crossing continents. With the level cap as high as it is, people are rushing to hit that max level. Blizzard, to help people get there, introduced ways to speed up leveling through items, RAF, guild perks, etc. Compound those with a little bit of rest and in an hour or so, you can run an instance and gain a few levels. However, the downside of that is missing out on all the content that was intended to be experienced in the leveling process

The inflation of stats on items, and therefor on health and damage, has increased to much that numbers seem trivial as well. I feels as if 'seeing' content is more important than 'doing' content. People can breeze through an LFR and see a raid, but to actually do a raid and experience it is, in my opinion, completely different. Therefor, it seems that Blizzard has to constantly add new content to be seen.

I honestly don't know how Blizzard could top WoW. I keep hearing people talk about "creating a different kind of mmo" instead of following the old formula. I started with FFXI for many years and moved on to WoW.

Since then I've played (and bought most of) the following: Vanguard Warhammer Perfect World Aion Secret World Rift Tera GW GW: 2 FFXIV FFXIV ARR Beta (Probably selling my CE I have on order for a profit at this point)

I'm probably forgetting a couple.. The point is, even though some of these games tried different systems, I didn't play any of them for more than a couple months. I guess I just really enjoy the standard formula. I would honestly prefer WoW 2 over any other idea Blizzard or any other company has put forth. Next gen visuals in a classic style MMO with Blizzard polish and perfection? Yes, please. It would be an opportunity for them to do it all over again and avoid a few of the unchangeable mistakes they made with WoW. I know it won't happen, but I often wonder how many out there want the same. If Blizzard would have stuck to the original formula of D2 and made D3 what everyone was expecting, I suspect it would have been wildly successful.

It can be a new IP and still have all the wonderful things that make WoW (imo) the best MMO on the market and the best ever made. I've grown bored with it and taken long breaks from time to time, but no other MMO has pulled me back in more than once. WoW has done it several times, there must be something to it.